Following links on Facebook, my old, unfriended pasttime, I found out in May 2009 about Natasha Collins, a biracial Yale medical student in need of a bone marrow transplant.
Her friends and family sponsored a drive looking for, hopefully, biracial donors because 90 percent of patient matches come from the same ethnic group. I signed up for NMDP after emotional pleas from Natasha’s brother and her roommate. I’m not biracial, but the call was quite clear: even if you’re not a match for Natasha, you could be for someone else, and the national registry desperately needs minority donors.
I signed up that day and, once my kit arrived in the mail, swabbed the insides of my cheeks while sitting on Jordan’s bed, not feeling very clinical. Then I decided to read the instructions that came with the donor test. I don’t think I followed a single specific instruction besides “open here.” In dismay, I returned the kit anyway, thinking I’d just killed half the black people in the database with my terrible “no manual needed” destructive habits.
Yesterday, nearly eight months later, I got a call that I am a potential match for someone’s parent, best friend, good neighbor or favorite teacher. All I know is gender, age and general diagnosis. I have a blood test scheduled for today that will not only be sent to the oncologist for confirmation, but will replace my amateurish saliva sample. Even if I’m not a match for this patient, I’ll have more accurate data on file for the next.
Please consider joining the national registry. I think it costs around $50, but that should be your only fee associated with the process. Yeah, okay, if you are a match and you need to stay overnight in a hospital for the bone marrow collection, you may have to pay for parking and your Subway $5 foot-long on the way there. Saving someone’s life should make up for that.
[UPDATE Natasha Collins died in August 2009 after being unable to find an exact donor match. Please consider joining the national marrow donor registry in her honor and for the chance to help someone else in need]
WOW, I had no idea about the National Registry. This is an awesome thing that you are doing! Good luck today!
@Tex In The City, can you imagine being on the other end of this? Finding out there is a potential match for you and she’s taking her blood test today? Pins, needles, prayer.
I’m really glad you’re a part of the registry and think that going in for further tests is the most unselfish thing anyone I know is doing this week. Yay you. xo!
…perhaps this is the reason that your job-start date got moved to Thursday.
@Motormouth, my world fell silent with your thought. Wow. Maybe. Cross your stuff again, everybody!
Wowzers! How exciting for you! Yay, you!!
@Dory, welcome to the fringe, and thanks for the encouragement! (I had to fish you out of the spam pond for some reason)
I was on the New England Bone Marrow registry, and when I called to change my address to a California address they were completely flummoxed by my whole existence. SO this is all to say that I signed up right after I read your post.
And basically, the way I understand it, is they really REALLY need biracial donors on the database. That is where they run into a whole heap of trouble finding a match. All of us Northern European boring people are almost moot — there is a little girl here in our town who desperately needs a match because she is half Chinese, half Japanese with a little bit of Vietnamese too. So anyway, I uncovered all this data when I was researching cord blood. It’s kind of incumbent upon biracial people to get their cells logged into databases, and donate their cord blood with all due urgency. I found that interesting, but feel helpless about it.
Anyway. I’ll be swabbin’ with the week.
@Erica, don’t feel helpless! You’re doing the right thing by signing up. Then just start talking about it. Some bi- or multiracial person will run across your post and sign up, too.